Madcow recently flew up to Portland to attend the Het Fairwheel Podium grand opening, and as per the usual with Madcow, he brought a few new products along with him. Some of the new small parts grabbed my attention, and I’m going to share those with you.

Parts of Passion Headset Spacers

I first saw the POP Headset Spacers while unpacking Parlee’s cyclocross NAHBS bike that Madcow helped spec. Even in black, the spacer caught my eye. First of all, it’s light. After a quick weigh-in for the 10mm height, they’re a bit (.4 g) heavier than the Soul Kozak spacer, and almost 2 grams lighter than most anything carbon. I also like the ridged look (a lot). They stack really nice, with little visible gap and the ridging carrying flawlessly. After Madcow dropped off a bag full of the spacers, I immediately understood why he added them to the shop. The colors — blue, red, gold, pink, copper, orange, silver, green and black — are beautiful, vibrant and deep.

KCNC DLC Coated Cables

These took a bit for me to really wrap my head around, but after a couple days I decided they’re one of my favorite recent adds. The cable is designed to increase shifting and braking performance. A type of diamond like carbon, first added to our store with the KMC DLC Chain, coats a fairly stock stainless steel cable. The coating, similar to a teflon coating, really stands out because unlike a teflon coating, this will never scratch off. You can take a razor blade to it and the cable will remain as smooth as ever. Despite the obvious advantages, it took me awhile to form an opinion on because each cables costs $30 (diamonds ain’t cheap!). The more I thought about it, however, the more I could justify the expense. That $30 buys a cable that can last years longer than a standard SS cable, especially if you live anywhere rainy. And think of the advantage these cables could add for ‘cross, which is very popular in my new hometown of Portland. It seems like shifting is always a hassle and derailleurs are never working quite right in the mud and muck. We spend thousands on bikes, wheels, tires and potentially even a B bike, why not spend $120 to make sure our brakes and shifters are working the best they can.

Custom Di2 Sneak Peak

This is more just a little something cool to check out. We’re currently putting together a custom build for a client and he requested a pink and purple theme.  The Di2 rear derailleur is sporting our KCNC Ceramic Pulleys and Kaiser Tunning kit, all in the custom pink and purple theme.

All Photos © David Haines